Stormin' Norma

[FIRE]

Paul-collins & Tim Northcutt:

[AllonFS]

It wouldn't be Le Mans without a French prototype with a daft ladies name, (Norma, Debora etc.) going slower than GTs. It's part of the tradition along with dust, merguez et frites and all the other great things that make Le Mans unique. I believe next year's entry is the Edith Piaf, bit long in the tooth, sounds better than it looks...

[courage]

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Panhard]

please show a little respect for the Norma name.
Norbert called the company Norma to honor the memory of his best friend & business partner after he was killed testing one of their first cars.

As for Le Mans the car performed perfectly until the driver made a mistake (going wide) allowing the Audi to punt him in front of the Spiker who had no brakes the rest can be seen on Youtube. As for performance we had plenty in hand. We did not go out to be the fastest & there were two LMP2s behind us after qualifying.
much better than scraping through on good will as was the case in 03 with the LMP1

[Flyin Ryan]

Originally Posted by Panhard

please show a little respect for the Norma name.
Norbert called the company Norma to honor the memory of his best friend & business partner after he was killed testing one of their first cars.

As for Le Mans the car performed perfectly until the driver made a mistake (going wide) allowing the Audi to punt him in front of the Spiker who had no brakes the rest can be seen on Youtube. As for performance we had plenty in hand. We did not go out to be the fastest & there were two LMP2s behind us after qualifying.
much better than scraping through on good will as was the case in 03 with the LMP1

Were y'all 2nd at some point in the early hours in class before the accident? My dad thought he saw it on the scoreboard at top but I never saw it.

[isynge]

I thought the Norma won a lot of friends at Le Mans this year. Pefectly credible through practice and qualifying - and as has been pointed out, was by no means the slowest.

Race performance too was no disgrace whatsoever - the retirement can be seen as just being one of those bits of bad Le Mans luck that creeps on teams every year.

Above all - to my eye it looks like a racing car and seemed good on the track. Hope to see a lot more of it during the rest of the year and into 2011.

[Victor_RO]

It should have at least three more races this year, Pegasus will campaign both the Norma and the old Courage in the remaining LMS races.

[cg7aa]

Originally Posted by Victor_RO

It should have at least three more races this year, Pegasus will campaign both the Norma and the old Courage in the remaining LMS races.

Unless I was hearing things, I remember hearing on RLM during the Algarve race commentary that the relationship between Pegasus and Norma had shall we say, broken down and that the car went back to Norma after Le Mans.

[Victor_RO]

Well... I did say that a few weeks before Algarve. I heard the same thing in the commentary... anyone know of any details?

[LeMans.pt]

Originally Posted by Victor_RO

Well... I did say that a few weeks before Algarve. I heard the same thing in the commentary... anyone know of any details?

I've been on Algarve paddock and what i been told that the Norma project was dead. There was in fact some team that were interested in buying the car, but after Le Mans and what happen in Le Mans (seems like the monocoque was to damn fragile) they had pull the plug and they don't have any buyer to 2011. With no perceptive of selling a single car, they can afford to continue do develop it...

Maybe this rumour as something to do with Pegasus and Norma going separate ways... maybe not...

[knighty]

I'm struggling to believe Norma will let this project fail, to my knowledge they are selling alot of VdeV cars and are generally a quite profitable race car manufacturer who are looking to crack into the LMP2 market, yes they were new to LMP, but they were favoured by the ACO (more than people actually realise) to develop a low cost LMP........this just sounds like a sour grapes rumour from a race team that have fell out with a manufacturer.........I'm sure panhard will be along soon to set everything straight!

[Panhard]

OK enough of the speculation here are the facts...Pegasus used to run a Norma in the VdeV until Ligier gave them a car the only reason they won the championship was because 8 norma teams split the points ...Pegasus ordered 2 2011 spec cars last year (2009}However they made no financial commitment and it was our understanding that we would supply one car for 2010 and one in Novemvber for 2011..As we all know the ACO did not release the new 2011 regs till November this made it impossible to supply a car for the start of the season. Norma still managed to have a car tested & at Le Mans which is a pretty amazing feat in itself especially if you are aware of the new crash test requirements. As for LeMans Pegasus rented the car for the race I will not go into details but will say that only partial payment was met prior to the race...and some time after the race
Pegasus paid the balance owed. They also stated they did not have the money to buy a car and withdrew from the deal. We are aware of the comments made in Auto Hebdo and are lookiing at making the original contract available to them for publication but will not be drawn in to a mud slinging match. We are also aware of the current situation between Pegasus and the owner of the Courage....I would not be so sure you will see them finish the season.
As for the M200 we are working with a major engine manufacturer for next years package and will be testing in October

[Panhard]

As a foot note two teams have purchased cars for next season and we are talking to several others...so very much Alive

[Félix]

Originally Posted by Panhard

As a foot note two teams have purchased cars for next season and we are talking to several others...so very much Alive

Two cars? As in 2 LMP2 M200s?

And purchased as in paid for them? Agreed to pay for them? Reserved a build spot? Because so often everybody is happy to announce a car will be on the grid, but afterwards we discover getting the car didn't necessarily mean fully paying for it and then disagreements mean it won't reappear on grids...

Good news still; and that engine deal is intriguing

[Panhard]

I think I said purchased ????The cars are in production and yes the engine deal is intriguing

[Panhard]

Originally Posted by AllonFS

It wouldn't be Le Mans without a French prototype with a daft ladies name, (Norma, Debora etc.) going slower than GTs. It's part of the tradition along with dust, merguez et frites and all the other great things that make Le Mans unique. I believe next year's entry is the Edith Piaf, bit long in the tooth, sounds better than it looks...

Funny how people comment without thinking...Norma is named after Norbert Santos's dead business partner who died testing their first prototype.....some respect please

[ensign14]

I take it the partner is the -ma? Marc someone?

"Norma" is Latin for ruler, or set-square, I had always assumed Norbert Santos was making a design-based pun.

[HORNDAWG]

Originally Posted by Panhard

As a foot note two teams have purchased cars for next season and we are talking to several others...so very much Alive

I suppose those are for the East side of The Pond?






L.P.

[Panhard]

Yes one German team & one French.....We are talking to a couple of teams here but the LMP C class is clouding the way. Having to explain that buying & running the LMP2 is cheaper is proving to be a difficult task.
Maybe they need to talk to Pegasus

[JAG]

Originally Posted by Panhard

Yes one German team & one French.....We are talking to a couple of teams here but the LMP C class is clouding the way. Having to explain that buying & running the LMP2 is cheaper is proving to be a difficult task.
Maybe they need to talk to Pegasus

So the ALMS is going to have an independent new-reg P2 class in 2011?

[joeb]

I thought I would dig up this old thread to say I was impressed with the Norma's effort at LeMans this year. They were the only car that finished the race that wasn't classified, and missed being classified by only 2 laps!! It's too bad that the ACO doesn't round up, because they actually finished 69.577% of the distance of the winning Audi!

[Great Dane]

I saw the results on the ACO website and Norma is in green section (=classified) not in the black part (= non-classified)

[joeb]

Originally Posted by Great Dane

I saw the results on the ACO website and Norma is in green section (=classified) not in the black part (= non-classified)

true, but if you click on the pdf of the race results it says otherwise.

[FordCosworthPanoz]

Norma M200p > Aston Martin AMR One

Perhaps Aston Martin should get Extrême Limite AM Paris to develop the AMR One, they would probably do a better job than Prodrive.

[isynge]

In 2010 I thought the Norma looked like a decent racing car, and I was delighted to see it still circulating come 1500 last Sunday. It's the archetypal privateer Le Mans entry, not going to set the world alight, but an effort that comes across as being really enthusiastic, having a decently prepared car, and critically going about their business with a genuine sense of enthusiasm.

Where they really scored with me this year was on the Friday pit walk, when stuck out at the far end of the pitlane one of their mechanics took time out to allow a young child to be photographed beside the car. It's that sort of spirit that makes sportscar racing what it is, and while the Extreme Limite outfit show it they're very welcome as far as I'm concerned.